#373 Nehemiah: Blaze the Trail™
May 8, 2024 Nehemiah served the people of Jerusalem by clarifying the vision and calling the people to live by their values. He also demonstrated the third action of serving leaders, Blaze the Trail, by keeping everyone focused on the mission. Serving leaders clarify for their team what activities bring the success that will accomplish […]
#354 Timothy: Learning to Reflect
July 19, 2023 Timothy was a young man, eager to save the world as he joined his mentor, Paul. But along the way he learned that leadership is not all about action. Leadership certainly involves the actions leaders take as well as the heart and motives underneath the actions. But leadership also includes the mind, […]
#308 Serving leaders ask those who follow: “How are you growing?”
September 1, 2021 Serving leaders have a passion, not only for their own personal growth, but they want to see those they lead also growing. They are in the growing people business! So, they attend to their own growth and then quickly turn their attention to the growth of those they lead. They have a […]
#299 Boaz: Serving by Keeping His Word
April 28, 2021 As a “man of standing” Boaz served others in several ways that we have already seen. He treated others well, he treated the weak with respect, and he gave generously. He also served others by keeping his word. Several times in the story of Ruth, Boaz did what he said he would do […]
#295 Boaz: Serving by Standing Well
March 2, 2021 The story of Boaz is nestled in the account of Ruth, the foreign daughter in law of Naomi. (If you’re not familiar with the story, take 10 minutes to read the book of Ruth.) Boaz appears in the story in chapter 2 after Naomi and Ruth, both widows, return to Israel from […]
#290 Jesus: Raise the Bar
December 9, 2020 In the last issue we looked at the first action of the The Serving Leader ModelTM*,Run to Great Purpose, which determines our vision or why we lead. In addition, effective leaders raise the bar for those who follow by identifying the values that guide their work. They call everyone to behave in […]
Daniel: Leading on His Knees
Issue #166, October 14, 2015 Daniel’s enemies could find no fault with his excellent job performance or integrity, but they saw his regular prayer as a potential weakness. They appealed to the king’s pride and persuaded him to outlaw Daniel’s prayer. Now he would either die or compromise. Either way, his enemies concluded, they would […]
Quality Assurance: Good Reputation with Outsiders
Issue #111, August 7, 2013 Paul ends his list of qualifications for servant leaders as he tells Timothy, “He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap” (1 Timothy 3:7). Paul’s instruction implies that the true test of our leadership capacity is […]
Quality Assurance: Respectable
Issue #102, March 27, 2013 Paul’s next instruction to Timothy is to find leaders who are “respectable” (1Timothy 3:2). Being respectable is much deeper than looking good on the outside or impressing people with charisma or leadership skills. Paul recognized that followers will not long follow a leader they do not genuinely respect. He understood […]
Act Like Paul: Model the Way
Issue #89, August 29, 2012 What are common actions that the best leaders do well?* In the next five issues we’ll look at specific actions that all effective leaders do well and reflect on how Paul demonstrated the way servant leaders act in these areas. The first of these actions is to model the way. […]